The Penguin Book of Ghosts

The Penguin Book of Ghosts gathers reported hauntings and ghost lore from across England, arranged county by county and place by place. Its accounts include the malevolent apparition associated with 50 Berkeley Square, the tapping cane attributed to Jeremy Bentham’s mummified body at University College, and the black dog of Shap Fell, whose appearance is said to foretell fatal accidents.

The collection ranges from ghostly armies marching across Cumbria to headless highwaymen, grey ladies, phantom hitchhikers and royal apparitions at Windsor. Other entries record local legends, ominous premonitions, bloodstains that refuse to disappear and practical disputes over allegedly haunted houses. Drawn from the authors’ wider work on England’s legendary landscape, it presents these stories as part of the country’s folklore and cultural history.